Unidentified birds cried out among the trees, punctuated by the occasional wolf howl. Apes let out long cries in the valley, and the forest blotted out the sky.
The entire Wei Family Residence had returned to its former lifeless state, eerie to the point of being uncanny.
Liu Jiarui and her two classmates hurried back the way they had come to rejoin the others. This time, they did not encounter any ghostly loops trapping them on the path, but the journey was even more frightening.
The whole residence seemed completely transformed, yet it also looked as though it had returned to its original state. There was an oppressive sense of being bound by feudal codes of propriety, and they even saw figures suddenly appearing inside the residence.
Tang Jinyan's voice trembled. "Jiarui, did you all hear that electronic voice that suddenly came out of nowhere? We, we..."
Liu Jiarui seemed calmer now instead. "We all heard it. If we don't want to die, we should do what it says. It'll be okay. We've dealt with plenty of supernatural stuff before. It's okay. Take a deep breath."
Tang Jinyan said, "But everything we dealt with before was fake!"
"Not necessarily."
Jiang Qing, the boy walking behind them, looked grim as he interjected in a low, conspiratorial voice.
"It wasn't all fake. Don't forget that incident where someone filmed a dragon out at sea. We followed it as soon as it happened, but the next day, no matter whose phone we checked, all the photos and audio recordings were gone, even the private files and downloaded copies. There are plenty of things in this world we can't understand."
"Actually, ever since I joined the Paranormal Exploration Club, I've encountered a lot of strange, inexplicable things. Even then, I thought there had to